Wednesday, June 18, 2014

What Real Learning Looks Like

This is the problem with letting dilettantes, even well-intended dilettantes, lead when it comes to education policy. They don't have the experience to recognize what real learning looks like, and since they tend to come from the world of business, they don't trust mere "employees" (teachers), especially if they belong to a union, so they come up with arbitrary data points that carry with them a hint of education-ness, then subject children to their amateur hour. I don't think that most of them want to be cruel to children and their parents, but in their ignorance they believe they know better because they've managed to make money off selling software or hardware or something, so they conjure up education-ish sounding ideas and, because they can, they impose them, despite the objections of those of us who do have the experience to know what real learning looks like.

Anyone who has spent any time in a classroom knows that real learning does not look like children slumped in chairs staring at iPads. Real learning looks like stepping in a puddle you've made with your friends, then sinking in until the water tops your boots.

Real learning looks like pouring water through systems of funnels and tubes.

Real learning looks like mixing a whole lot of stuff together with your friends to see what happens.

Real learning looks like negotiating how to share scarce and valuable resources.

Real learning looks like children imitating one another . . .

. . . then taking it to the next level.

Real learning looks like testing our physical limits.

Real learning looks like performing experiments.

Real learning looks like trying on costumes.

Real learning looks like princesses and fairies.

Real learning looks like figuring out how to make something new from unfamiliar materials.

Real learning looks like conflict and resolution.

Real learning looks like hanging out with a friend and talking about the world.

Real learning looks like engagement in a process one has never tried before.

Real learning looks like children cleaning up after themselves.

Real learning looks like children doing things for themselves.

Real learning looks like preschoolers in a brewery carrying kegs.

Real learning looks like children playing in a concrete pond in the rain.

Real learning looks like animals lined up in a row.

Real learning looks like patterns made from goldfish.

Real learning looks like keeping track of important things like how many bowling pins you've knocked down.

Real learning looks like children carving out their own space in the world.

Real learning looks like children following their own path.

This list only scratches the surface of what real learning looks like. I've been teaching for 13 years, it would take at least that long to give you my full list. But I assure you, one thing that real learning doesn't look like is children slumped in chairs staring at iPads.

I put a lot of time and effort into this blog. If you'd like to support me please consider a small contribution to the cause. Thank you!

4 comments:

Spoiler: I think the system is working. There are those who see the economy as not needing all the thinkers it could possibly have. It prefers docile workers who think creatively less, and obey more. Doing mindless, boring work with little ability to think outside the box or on their own is ideal for the majority. Increasingly precarious work with sub poverty wages is proceeding along its planned path. Unemployment figures avoid noting this phenomenon. Never mind, nothing to see here. Keep moving, please.

Spoiler: I think the system is working. There are those who see the economy as not needing all the thinkers it could possibly have. It prefers preparing docile workers who think creatively less, and obey more, ... doing mindless, boring work with little ability to think outside the box or on their own is ideal for the majority in a deregulated, free market society. Increasingly precarious work with sub poverty wages is proceeding along its upward trajectory. Unemployment figures avoid noting this wage phenomenon. Never mind, nothing to see here. Keep moving, please.

Teacher Tom, I recently stumbled upon your blog and oh am so glad I did! I too am the Director/Teacher of a parent participation school. This fall I will have been with our wonderful little preschool 24 years. I cannot imagine being any place else! This post is so spot on! Thank you, I am sharing it! Teacher Cindy In CA

Search Teacher Tom

Loading

support teacher tom

This is my personal blog and is not a publication of the Woodland Park Cooperative Preschools. I put a lot of time and effort into it. If you'd like to support me please consider a small contribution to the cause. Thank you!

About Teacher Tom

I am a preschool teacher, writer, speaker, artist and the author of "A Parent's Guide To Seattle".
For the past 15 years, I've taught preschool at the Woodland Park Cooperative School. The children come to us as 2-year-olds in diapers and leave as "sophisticated" 5-year-olds ready for kindergarten.
The cooperative school model allows me to work very closely with families in a true community setting.
I intend to teach at Woodland Park for the rest of my life. I love the kids and I love the families. It's an incredibly rewarding job.